Burger King is on the verge of conquering McDonald's for global burger domination
LatestBurger King now says it operates in “approximately 100 countries,” with more than 90 percent of its new store openings occurring abroad.
In its Q2 earnings presentation yesterday, Restaurant Brands International said it had opened 141 new locations, only 11 of which were in North America.
“We finished the first half of 2015 with strong net restaurant growth as we continue to make progress on our international expansion efforts, particularly in China, Turkey and India,” Burger King head Daniel Schwartz (who is only 34, by the way), said on the company’s earnings call according to a Seeking Alpha transcript.
And there’s more to come, he said.
“Our strong master franchise joint venture partners have a robust global pipeline of restaurants that we plan to open in the second half to the year,”
Here is the new Burger King location map. The newest country here is India, where it is selling chicken and vegetable sandwiches, and making Whoppers with mutton.
McDonald’s meanwhile, now operates in 119 countries and territories. It’s most recent addition was Vietnam, although at least two American chains, Dairy Queen and Popeyes, preceded it.
In its most recent quarterly earnings filing, McDonald’s saw a 4.5-percent decline in comparable sales and 16-percent decline in currency-adjusted income, which it blamed on “prolonged, broad-based consumer perception issues in Japan along with negative performance in China and other Asian markets.”
Europe did see slightly better performance, though adjusted operating income there fell 2 percent.
The chain has used a menu strategy of “fewer, more impactful products,” Schwartz said, which has helped improve sales even while avoiding operational complexity that has been dogging the company’s primary competitor, McDonald’s Corp.
For instance, the company’s A1 Hearty Mozzarella Bacon Cheeseburger has “only one new item added to the kitchens,” Schwartz said.
National Restaurant News correspondent Jonathan Maze says this helped improve sales “even while avoiding operational complexity that has been dogging the company’s primary competitor, McDonald’s Corp.”
Oh, and about The King himself? On the call, Chase simply said the appearances had been highly successful — though did not quantify it — but said to “stay tuned” for more of him.
Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.